"Once a crumbly, dilapidated building," according to the information packet given to new residents, Bice reopened this semester after an approximately $7 million renovation, according to Burt Joseph, assistant director of housing for facilities.
Bice was closed for the last two semesters while the Housing Department replaced everything from appliances, furniture, paint, carpets and windows to essentials like the fire system and exterior bricks.
"It's actually new," Joseph said.
The new accommodations generally have received approval from incoming residents.
On Monday Bice's newly-trained Resident Coordinators sat in the lobby, greeting their new residents, as second-year Engineering student Mike Pilat took his 10-second walk from the front door of Bice to his new apartment, number 101. In passing, Pilat said he and his suitemates are happy with their accommodations.
He then opened the door with his ID and a pin number. Inside, several of his second-year roommates sat in the common room, playing video games on their couch next to a Dance Dance Revolution game pad leaning against the wall.
With no wall between the common room and the kitchen, the room seemed spacious, open, bright and clean.
"I think the fact that everything is really clean and new looking is the best part," College student Dan Reinish said.
"I guess the only bad part is the size of the rooms," Pilat responded.
"Yeah, when you come from Alderman dorms, it's surprising," Reinish said.
Five of this year's 101 roommates lived together in Maupin last year and now are joined by a friend from Kent. They said Bice was their first choice for on-Grounds housing, and although the previous residents of New Dorms had larger rooms last year, they noted improvements in their upperclassmen housing.
"I thought the kitchen was nicer than I expected," Reinish said.
"Yeah, the kitchen is nicer," Pilat agreed. "I kind of thought the suite would be crunched, but it's alright."
"The common area is the best part of the apartment," Renish said as he and Pilat began walking down the hall, stopping in the bathroom.
The six apartment mates now share two full bathrooms, another improvement from New Dorms.
"The bathrooms are clean, but the shower heads are lacking," Pilat observed.
"They're a lot like a watering can," Renish said as his friends looked at him skeptically. "I got a steady stream of water like a watering can. It just pours," he explained.
Pilat proceeded to flush the toilet, resulting in an unusually loud flow of water.
The observation that "the toilet doesn't flush like it's supposed to," is one of the few complaints Joseph has heard from Bice residents.
Pilat expressed the same critique.
"It scares people," he laughed, continuing down the hall to his bedroom where he began explaining the unusual furniture setup.
"We have a cubicle system," he began before his roommate, Engineering student Steve Yang, continued.
"We each have a surprising amount of space," Yang said. "And this way we don't have to see each other all the time."
Pilat walked to his side of the room and surveyed the setup.
"I like the window back here, and the A/C is quality," he said.
"Yeah, the A/C is nice," Yang agreed.
"It is quality," Pilat repeated, appreciating the obvious improvement from first-year dorms.
Yang motioned toward the ceiling before continuing his evaluation.
"We're hoping it doesn't fall down on us," he said with a smile. "The ceiling doesn't look like it was renovated."
Joseph said it is true the ceilings are one of the few remnants of the original building.
"The reason the ceiling wasn't renovated was because it's concrete," he said, laughing. "There's not much renovating you can do to that. It won't fall on his head."
After observing the ceiling, Yang moved back to the door.
"Oh, have you seen the lock?" he asked.
He then quickly demonstrated the new system in which a pin and ID card have replaced traditional keys.
According to the papers given to residents, Bice is the "first 'keyless' living facility at UVA," a characteristic Moorman mentioned the residents said they enjoy. The change from regular keys, however, requires some getting used to.
"I haven't been able to get mine to work," Pilat mentioned, and the two roommates began discussing their pins and what each did to open the door.
There are obvious advantages despite potential complications.
"You can't lose your keys because there are no keys," Pilat said.
Joseph said if students are locked out by leaving their keys in their rooms, they can get keys that override the new system or get new ID cards if necessary.
Although Pilat and Yang said they are satisfied with their accommodations, they are unsure whether they plan to stay in Bice for another year.
"I guess the only downside to this as far as next year is room size and distance," Pilat said, mentioning the walk to the Engineering school from Bice, which is located behind Cabell, near the Elson Student Health Center.
"Maybe if the toilet flushing wasn't so weird ... think about how many times you're going to flush it this year and every time is ... " Yang said, trailing off into a strange imitation of a flushing sound.
Other 283 Bice residents expressed similar sentiments about the eight-story -- plus a basement -- building. The keyless system was widely praised while the extremely loud toilets were criticized. Another criticized aspect of Bice was bedroom size.
Second-year Engineering student Lauren Gilroy said her room is "almost half the size" of her first-year room in Dunnington. Although the rooms seem small to her, however, Gilroy said her roommate, a former resident of Old Dorms, is excited about the common area she did not have last year.
Aside from room size, she said she likes her new apartment.
"It's in pretty good condition," she said. "The furniture isn't too nice, but everything works well."
Unlike the residents of apartment 101, Gilroy listed the location as an advantage of living in Bice.
"It's much better than Lambeth or Gooch, I think," she said, although she still had some concerns. "Do you know if they're going to put in a bus stop?"
Joseph acknowledged there have been a few minor kinks to work out, but said the renovation has gone overwhelmingly smoothly.
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